San Francisco, 9:07 AM
Lila Carter stabbed the elevator button with a freshly manicured nail, her reflection glaring back at her in the polished steel doors. Kane Ventures glowed on the screen of her phone like a taunt, the email's subject line screaming in all caps: FINAL OFFER – CARTER SECURETECH BUYOUT. She'd read it three times. Four. Each word—obsolete, unsustainable, inevitable collapse—clawed at the legacy her parents had built.
"He's early," Maya muttered, clutching a tablet to her chest as they stepped into the office. The morning sun streamed through floor-to-ceiling windows, illuminating Carter SecureTech's open-plan workspace—a jungle of potted ferns, whiteboards scribbled with encryption algorithms, and the faint hum of servers.
"Of course he is," Lila said, slicking on another layer of red lipstick in the glass wall's reflection. Armor applied. "Alpha predators love making prey sweat."
Maya's brow arched. "You're not prey."
"No," Lila agreed, tossing the tube into her desk drawer. "But he doesn't know that yet."
---
9:15 AM
Adrian Kane didn't knock. He strode into the conference room like he owned the air molecules, his tailored charcoal suit and 6'4" frame swallowing the space. Lila's team stiffened—Jax Rivera, her hoodie-clad lead hacker, nearly dropped his energy drink.
"Ms. Carter." Adrian's voice was a velvet blade. "I see you've ignored my emails."
"And I see you've ignored basic manners." She didn't stand. Didn't blink. "Sit. If you can fit your ego in the chair."
His green eyes flickered—a glitch in his otherwise flawless code of arrogance. He sat, rolling up his sleeves to reveal corded forearms and a jagged scar along his jawline. Lila wondered, briefly, what could've marked a man like him.
"Your company's a relic," he said, sliding a contract across the table. "Your firewalls are Swiss cheese. Sell now, and I'll let you keep the plants."
She leaned forward, her smile sharp enough to cut glass. "Funny. I was about to say the same thing about your offer."
---
10:02 AM
Back in her office, Lila fired off a Slack message to his corporate account:
@LilaCarter: Your buyout pitch is as empty as your moral compass. Next time, try bribing me with something that isn't Monopoly money.
His reply blazed instantly:
@AdrianKane: Careful, Carter. Pride's a luxury startups can't afford.
She snorted, typing:
@LilaCarter: Neither is underestimating me.
---
12:30 PM
By lunch, their exchange had leaked to TechCrunch.
Jax burst into her office, phone aloft. "You're trending! #FirewallFeud's got 50K tweets. Also, this meme of Adrian as a Bond villain is gold."
Lila scrolled, her stomach twisting. There they were—screenshots of their Slack spat, dissected in forums. Carter vs. Kane: Silicon Valley's New Blood Sport.
Maya hovered in the doorway. "This is bad."
"No," Lila said, shutting off her screen. Her reflection in the dark monitor was all red lips and defiance. "This is war."
---
Epicenter Tech Forum – Thread: #FirewallFeud
User HackQueen: Did anyone else get chills? Carter's a legend.
User VC_Bro88: Kane's gonna eat her alive. Bet she folds by Friday.
User CodeWitch: Or maybe he's the one who'll crash. 🍿
---
Adrian's Penthouse, 11:08 PM
He stared at the city below, a tumbler of Scotch in hand. The scar on his jaw throbbed—a ghost of a past he'd buried. His phone buzzed: another alert about the feud.
Carter's good, he admitted. Better than good. She'd parried every threat, her eyes flashing like a challenge he hadn't felt in years.
He typed a new email:
Subject: Revised Offer
Body: Double the funding. Triple the equity. Your name stays on the door.
Send.
Then, he deleted it.
Let her sweat a little longer.
---
Lila's Apartment, 11:59 PM
She sat cross-legged on her couch, laptop glowing. The forums blazed with speculation, but one comment snagged her:
User GhostInTheCode: Kane doesn't chase losers. He sees something in her.
Lila's thumb hovered over the keyboard. Outside, the Bay Bridge glittered like a circuit board.
What if he's right?
She slammed the laptop shut.
---
Tomorrow's Headline:
Kane vs. Carter: Silicon Valley's Newest Obsession.
---
End of Chapter 1
YOU ARE READING
Code of Hearts
RomanceIn the cutthroat world of Silicon Valley, two titans clash in a battle of firewalls, ethics, and forbidden attraction. Lila Carter, the fiercely principled CEO of Carter SecureTech, would rather hack a government server than surrender her parents' l...
